Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, by Colin Baker. Clevedon, England: Multilingualism Matters, 1993. xvi + 319 pp.

Abstract

Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism by Colin Baker. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 1993. xvi + 319 pp. Reviewed by Patricia Baquedano-Lopez University of California, Los Angeles coming to terms with bilingualism within their increasing awareness, language policies are being created and educators are trying to redesign curricula to better serve the needs of language minority students. Colin Baker's book Foundations of countries are this Many borders. With Bilingual Education and Bilingualism is an introductory textbook which provides prospective teachers with a review of the most salient issues in bilingual education. The book is decidedly written to address issues of more European and British import, but Baker makes an effort to include examples from a wide variety of educational policies, for example, New Zealand's programs on the use of Maori and English and the bilingual models in Canada and the U.S. For this reason, teachers and students interested in obtaining a global perspective on bilingualism will find this book appealing. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism is divided into two main sections: A) The individual and social nature of bilingualism and B) Bilingual education policies and classroom practices. Section A contains ten chapters introducing current theories of bilingualism and second language acquisition (SLA). Chapters 1 and 2 discuss in general terms the different types of bilingualism and their measurement. In this regard, rather than following traditional methods, such as self-ratings and questionnaires, Baker emphasizes the need for a communicative testing approach using criterion- referenced tasks; however, after examining a chart of sample For communicative situations, one notes their culture-dependancy. example, the communicative goal that requires children to give, receive and follow accurately precise instructions and the assessment task that requires children to plan a wall display or arrange an outing together in a group (p. 29) is at best, appropriate for most Western societies; therefore, prospective teachers must bear this in mind objectives and tasks. when developing language Chapters 3 and 4 discuss the functions of language in society and the need for policies on language revival and reversal. While Baker presents an account of Fishman's (1980) landmark study on diglossia (the use of two languages in distinct language domains, such as the school and the home) as promoting bilingualism, he omits other views that contend that both larger Issues in Applied Linguistics ISSN 1050-4273 Vol. 6 No. Regents of the University of California